Akhmadzhon Makhmudzhanovich Saidov

From Amnesty International, AI Index, EUR 04/05/97, 11 March 1997

Akhmadzhon Saidov, a retired army officer and former deputy
speaker of the parliament of Tajikistan, is reported to be at
serious risk of refoulement to Tajikistan where he is wanted on
a possibly politically motivated charge. Amnesty International
fears that if deported to Tajikistan Akhmadzhon Saidov may become
a prisoner of conscience.

Akhmadzhon Saidov was Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Soviet
(parliament) of Tajikistan from 1991 to 1992. He claims that his
resignation in late 1992 was in protest at abuse of efforts to
organize a national reconciliation government at the height of
the civil war in Tajikistan, and the appointment of a former
convicted criminal as Interior Minister. He alleges that his
subsequent complaints, as a member of parliament, about misuse
of state property by the Interior Ministry led to harassment of
himself and his family by law enforcement officials.
Consequently he left Tajikistan in 1994 and settled with his
family in Moscow.

In August 1996 a warrant for Akhmadzhon Saidov's arrest was
issued in Tajikistan on charges of "abuse of authority" and
"embezzlement". There are strong suspicions that the charges are
fabricated, and that the true motive for bringing them is to
punish Akhmadzhon Saidov for his perceived connection to a group
of former senior Tajik government members who announced the
formation of a new political grouping, the National Revival Bloc,
at a press conference in Moscow days before the warrant was
issued. Notably, the charges reportedly relate to the period
when Akhmadzhon Saidov was deputy parliamentary chairman, and
there had apparently been no previous attempt to bring charges
against him in the almost four years since he resigned that
position. On the basis of the warrant, Akhmadzhon Saidov was
arrested in Moscow on 7 February 1997. He is currently detained
in Moscow and is fighting extradition with the assistance of a
lawyer and with the support of human rights activists in Russia.
However, sources in Moscow have indicated that a decision on his
extradition may be taken very soon by the responsible Russian
authorities, and as much international pressure as possible is
needed to try to prevent this.

Akhmadzhon Saidov was born in Uzbekistan and is ethnically Uzbek.
He served in the Soviet army in Russia before being posted to
Tajikistan, where he ran for election to the Supreme Soviet in
1990. Having left Tajikistan in 1994, the matter of his current
citizenship is unresolved. He is laying claim to Russian
citizenship, which, if confirmed, might significantly increase
his chances of resisting extradition.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Peace talks on ending the civil war and opposition insurgency in
Tajikistan have made significant progress since December 1996,
with a number of accords having been reached in principle on
achieving national reconciliation. The National Revival Bloc,
having declared itself a "third force" in Tajik politics
following its foundation in July 1996 and having demanded to be
party to the peace negotiations, has remained marginalized and
has been kept out of the negotiations between the Government of
Tajikistan and the United Tajik Opposition.

Akhmadzhon
Saidov is the fourth person from Tajikistan within the past year
to have been arrested in Moscow on the basis of warrants issued
in Tajikistan allegedly because the wanted person is perceived
to be a government opponent. In the three previous cases the
detained person was eventually released by the Russians (their
periods in custody ranged from one day to one month), one because
of considerable international pressure and the others reportedly
because the Tajik side did not satisfy the provisions of the
convention regulating extraditions between Russia and Tajikistan.

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